John Frame (1733 – 11 October 1796) was an English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er of the mid-

Georgian period The Georgian era was a period in British history from 1714 to , named after the Hanoverian Kings George I, George II, George III and George IV. The definition of the Georgian era is often extended to include the relatively short reign of Will ...

who played for

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. He also represented various

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

teams. He was born in

Warlingham Warlingham is a village in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England, south of the centre of London and east of the county town, Guildford. Warlingham is the centre of a civil parish that includes Hamsey Green, a contiguous, smaller sett ...

, and died in

. His known career spanned the 1749 to 1774 English cricket seasons from the ages of 16 to 41. Frame was an outstanding

fast bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. ...

who was favourably compared with

Lumpy Stevens Edward "Lumpy" Stevens (1735 – 7 September 1819) was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket in the 18th century. He was an outstanding bowler who is generally regarded as the first great bowler in the game's his ...

. Like all bowlers of his time, he used an

underarm The axilla (also, armpit, underarm or oxter) is the area on the human body directly under the shoulder joint. It includes the axillary space, an anatomical space within the shoulder girdle between the arm and the thoracic cage, bounded superior ...

action. In the first half of his career until about 1760, bowlers

delivered ''Delivered'' is a 1998 thriller/crime film directed by Guy Ferland. A pizza boy finds a murdered man at his next delivery and becomes the murderer's next intended victim. External links * * 1998 films 1998 crime thriller films 1998 comed ...

the

ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used f ...

all along the ground. Cricket then underwent an evolutionary change as pitching was introduced, still with an underarm action; the modern straight

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...

was invented in response.

Cricket career

Frame was only 16 when he played for

Dartford Brent Dartford Brent was an extensive area of common land on the outskirts of Dartford in Kent. Historically, it was the scene of a confrontation between King Henry VI and Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York in 1452 and in 1555 thousands of spectat ...

on 2–3 June 1749. Surrey won by 2 wickets."At the Sign of the Wicket"
F. S. Ashley-Cooper, ''Cricket'', issue 533, 12 April 1900, p. 53. In 1750, he played for Surrey in three matches against

and his brother (first name unknown) was in the same team in each match. Frame played for Surrey as he still lived in

at this time."At the Sign of the Wicket"
F. S. Ashley-Cooper, ''Cricket'', issue 534, 19 April 1900, p. 68. He may have moved to

soon afterwards as he was a member of the Kent team in 1751 and he became chiefly associated with

Dartford Cricket Club Dartford Cricket Club is one of the oldest cricket clubs in England with origins which date from the early 18th century, perhaps earlier. The earliest known match involving a team from Dartford took place in 1722, against London, but the club's ...

. He is first recorded as an England player in May 1751, playing against Kent. Frame's last known top-class appearance was for England v

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

Sevenoaks Vine The Vine Cricket Ground, also known as Sevenoaks Vine, is one of the oldest cricket venues in England. It was given to the town of Sevenoaks in Kent in 1773 by John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset (1745–1799) and owner of nearby Knole ...

on 8–9 July 1774. Hampshire, who had

as a

given man This is a general glossary of the terminology used in the sport of cricket. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. Certain aspects of cricket terminology are explained in more detail in cr ...

, won by 169 runs. Frame was described by

John Nyren John Nyren (15 December 1764 – 30 June 1837) was an English cricketer and author. Nyren made 16 known appearances in first-class cricket from 1787 to 1817. He achieved lasting fame as the author of '' The Cricketers of My Time'', which was fir ...

as one of the

Hambledon Club The Hambledon Club was a social club that is famous for its organisation of 18th century cricket matches. By the late 1770s it was the foremost cricket club in England. Foundation The origin of the club, based near Hambledon in rural Hampshire, ...

's greatest opponents and as "the other principal (bowler) with Lumpy". Nyren says he remembers little of Frame, except that he was a

and an unusually stout man for a cricketer. Writing in 1900, F. S. Ashley-Cooper said in his introduction to ''At the Sign of the Wicket'' that the best 18th century players "possessed that amount of genius which would make them excellent players in any age". He named Frame, David Harris, Richard Newland and John Small as examples."At the Sign of the Wicket"
F. S. Ashley-Cooper, ''Cricket'', issue 531, 25 January 1900, p. 4.

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frame, John 1733 births 1796 deaths English cricketers of 1701 to 1786 English cricketers Kent cricketers Non-international England cricketers Surrey cricketers People from Tandridge (district) Cricketers from Surrey